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• The "cold arrow" bamboo last flowered and died in 1983 and 1984. This time, people were ready to act. Ten thousand helpers took food into the forests for the pandas. Feeding spots were set up where the weak pandas could be fed on sugar cane, apples, and milk. Some of the animals were moved into ares that had enough bamboo for them to eat. In this way, many giant pandas were saved.
• The number of giant pandas in the wild is becoming smaller and smaller. Female pandas may give birth to two babies at a time. But only one baby lives. This is because the baby pandas are small and helpless and the mother panda can only look after one of them. Giant pandas do not have babies as often as some other animals. This is why there is always so much excitement when a panda is born at the zoo.
• Many people around the world are trying to save the giant pandas. The Chinese government has set up twelve nature reserves where pandas can live undisturbed by humans. Scientists in several countries are studying ways help them. Some are trying to speed up the growth rate of the three bamboos that pandas like to eat. Others are trying to help pandas have more babies. One way to do this is to care for them in zoos. This keeps them healthy, and healthy pandas are much more likely to have babies.
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